Game of Thrones, as in the famous television series, ended seven years ago, but has remained in the popular zeitgeist through its lasting cultural impact and spin-off shows such as House of the Dragon and A Knight of Seven Kingdoms. Although the franchise has remained relatively successful in the realm of television, it hasn’t had the same luck with the world of gaming. Not counting Game of Thrones: Genesis, which was based off the books and had no relation to the show, the first Game of Thrones video game was 2012’s Game of Thrones, which was based initially of the A Song of Fire and Ice books, but would later incorporate elements of the show during its development, given the first season had launched the year prior. It would launch to mixed reviews, with the only other notable game tied to the television franchise being Telltale Games’s Game of Thrones released back in 2014; every other video game-related piece of media associated with Game of Thrones would be mobile releases that have not had any lasting recognition or success. However, things may take a turn for the better with the upcoming Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, which I had the opportunity to play a demo of provided by PlaySide Studios, the developers behind the title.
I’m not terribly good at RTS games- I have played a few Total War games, such as Empire, Napoleon, and Warhammer, which themselves are more turn-based with some RTS-elements featured. This was ultimately a new experience for me as someone mostly unfamiliar with RTS gameplay. But I will say, I did have some dumb fun with the demo, even if this was partly due to me playing on easy mode against an AI. Opening up the game, you’re hit with a cinematic intro that shows off Jon Snow fighting against the Night King, only this time we see our beloved hero fall to the ice-based menace, serving the idea that you can change the events of the show (hopefully this means we can create a better ending than the final season). The demo shows two modes, Campaign and Skirmish, although only the latter was available to play. The demo provided the opportunity to play matches against other users who had been provided a code to play, but I decided to try it out against the in-game AI instead. It features two maps, Greywater Watch and Ashemark, and two playable factions, House Stark and House Lannister. The demo features two victory conditions, that being “annihilation”, which as you can guess involves destroying the enemy team’s HQ, and “domination”, which involves taking the majority of influence points across the map.
The match starts you off with two basic units, a builder and a scout. The builders, named “field hands” for Stark and “laborers” for Lannister, are your essential construction unit, used to create new buildings such as barracks or supply-increasers (dwellings for Stark, residencies for Lannister). I should go into that too- there are three “currencies” you focus on in-game, that being gold, which you produce through the likes of resource structures such as windmills or mines (which deplete over time but can be permanently sustained by being constructed on”high yield ground”), influence, which you gain by constructing special buildings such as Weirwood trees or gold lion statues on influence points and is used to to access advanced units and structures, and supply, which determines unit capacity and be increased by constructing buildings such as the aforementioned dwellings and residencies. You’ll have access to other units like the previously-mentioned barracks, which are used to train and deploy basic infantry-types such as light spearmen, swordsmen, etc. There are other types of infantry-buildings you can construct, such as stables, payhouses, and “Northern Strongholds”, which give access to different kinds of units such as cavalry and faction-specific specials (giants and mammoth-riders in the case of the Starks, and Golden Company and Knights of Summer for the Lannisters). One faction-specific unit I found amusing was that of the Lannisters’ “pyromancer” who are used for area-denial and come equipped with wildfire (they also can explode upon death apparently). There is also siege-related equipment you can construct such as catapults and trebuchets.. You’ll also be able to upgrade your HQ called a “faction seat” in the game, with bonuses provided from it, and from where you can spend gold on influence and vice-versa. Some of the most important units include that of heroes, powerful leaders on the battlefield who can level up after small fights, with the Starks having Jon Snow and Robb Stark, and the Lannisters having Jaime and Tywin Lannister.
Playing the demo, I would begin as the Starks on Greywater Watch, where I slowly learned the mechanics of the game. They were pretty easy to figure out and adjust to, with each building and its purpose carefully explained, as well as any units like builders or infantry. I’d make two scouts who I’d send off in opposite directions, with one of them dying at the hands of Dreadfort shieldsmen of House Bolton, who appeared to operate similarly to barbarians in the Civilization games, a type of non-playable enemy that causes havoc for players across the game. It seemed I was able to kill these enemies, but could not destroy their spawn point. Either way, I would go on to build a barracks in order to train and deploy infantry, and from here I went on to avenge this fallen scout and settle a blood feud with House Bolton- sending my infantry to the location of his death, I had them wipe out the shieldsmen responsible and take a nearby outpost to help expand my territory. This is another feature of the game- the maps themselves are split up into various territories, which you can consolidate in order to construct more buildings and grow your economy and influence by sending infantry in to take over outposts. Outposts also act as a point for your units to heal, making them quite essential to winning each match. However, this outpost did not rest in my hands forever, with the Lannisters sending some of their knights over to try and conquer it, prompting me to send my forces over to retake it. However, we’d manage to hold the outpost, until later the Lannisters sent their regards with an even larger attacking force, wiping out 2/3rds of my infantry and leaving only a battered squad of swordsmen. I thought my men could rest easy, but no, the Lannisters engaged in another onslaught and proceeded to wipe out the survivors of the previous battle. I decided to spend some time prepping another army, during which I also discovered you had limits on how many types of certain buildings you can have in a territory at a time. Turns out, constructing too many windmills would cause my gold yield to decrease from saturation, so I’d end up deconstructing them to avoid these effects. After some time spent maxing out my supply network and building a new army, I’d send my forces off for a noble attack on the Lannister’s HQ. I’d run into some hiccups, with less powerful infantry dying to Lannister forces, including guard towers and pyromancers hitting them with wildfire, but eventually the fortress was destroyed, and after finishing off the last Lannister influence point, I’d win the match.
For my second match I’d play as the Lannisters on Ashemark, which felt easier now that I had a better understanding of the mechanics and how to win. Funny enough, after loading into the game I’d receive a message from the House Stark AI, which read “Winter is coming”. This time I’d have a more organized arrangement of buildings compared to my sporadic and seemingly arbitrary setup as the Starks, where I just randomly placed buildings around my HQ as I tried to figure out the basic mechanics. I attempted a more grid-like structure with my residencies, building what seemed like an actual neighborhood. I quickly took a few territories, which soon led to me almost having a domination victory. This felt too quick though, so I allowed the Starks to take one of my outposts so I could play further. Following this, I’d begin constructing an army to assault the Stark’s HQ, with confidence that I’d be able to do so more easily with my understanding of the game’s mechanics. I was wrong, with my first attack ending in catastrophic failure, seeing all my infantry, including Tywin and Jaime, die. Fortunately, the Seven seem to favor the heroes of this game, allowing Tywin and Jaime to respawn after some time. I’d go on to build a stronger batch of infantry, relying on heavy units and special units such as the Golden Company and Knights of Summer to go into the fray. Once more, I’d lead an assault on the Stark’s HQ, and it was just as bloody as last time, but as it seemed I was about to lose with my infantry on their last legs, I saw the victory screen appear as the Stark’s HQ collapsed into rubble- the Seven must have been rooting for me this whole time.
Overall, I did have fun playing this demo, even if some parts felt clunky (my builders would begin constructing fortified walls and then stop, which prevented me from constructing another wall in its place) and the game mechanics felt a tad basic at times- however, I’d owe the latter issue to the fact that War for Westeros is still in development, with more features to be added along the way; even then, what was available was fun and interesting, and feels like the groundwork for more down the line. I am excited to see what comes of this game, and I sincerely hope it finds success and pulls off a magnificent capture of the Game of Thrones universe within an RTS framework. After all, we are due on an actual Game of Thrones video game that isn’t reserved mostly to mobile devices.